Ringing news

 Hot off the presses, Tony has emailed me details of the recovery of a Meadow Pipit they trapped just over a couple of weeks ago.

It was a first-winter bird which had been trapped at Netherstead on 10 September 2020, and was retrapped just 12 days later on 22 September 2020, 173 kilometres to the south at Hayling golf course in Hampshire.

The Meadow Pipit's progress

I suspect that Hampshire will not be its final destination, more likely southern France or Spain, but this recovery neatly illustrates the journey these pipits are making as they bound overhead each autumn.

Tuesday Sep 29 - Morgrove Coppice

I've found myself a little short of time this week. Balancing home life and dodging yucky weather left me with just a two hour slot this morning. conditions were perfect for woodland watching, still and sunny, so I headed for Morgrove Coppice for my first morning visit there.

The mixed woodland combination of scots pines and larch next to oaks and birch leaves plenty of possibilities, and I quickly got onto the tail of a large tit flock which was accompanied by a couple of Chiffchaffs, numerous Goldcrests, and an unseen tacker which I assumed was a Blackcap.

Once they had moved through I switched to checking the pines for finches, and duly recorded several Siskins and Lesser Redpolls.

Lesser Redpoll

Although several Redpolls landed at the top of the conifers, I had discovered that the majority of the them were in the birches when a flock of about 50 small finches suddenly erupted into the air before disappearing from view. The calls suggested Redpolls, but I couldn't relocate the flock in the time I had.

In fact I ended up slowing right down and just chilling out in the car park as a trickle of Meadow Pipits, and Skylarks flew past. It was very relaxing.

I also nodded to a never-ending flow of dog-walkers, most of whom were responsibly ensuring that they were prepared to take home their doggy waste. Most of them! I was disappointed to find several dollops on the boardwalk waiting for the next lucky wheelchair owner to labour past.

Oh dear there I go again, the grumpy old man gene has kicked in.

Sunday September 27 - Lots of Chat(s)

Things started well this morning when I heard a Crossbill as it flew over me on my way back from the paper shop.

I joined Dave at the patch just after 09.00am and we had hardly walked fifty metres when Dave spotted the bird of the day, a Wheatear.

Wheatear

In a normal year this might have seemed less impressive, but it scores points for being only the second here this year, and for being fairly late in the season. 

We continued that theme as we reached the gap in the hedge by the beehives. A Whinchat and a Stonechat were waiting for us, and we went on to record a total of six of the latter on the site.

Whinchat

Stonechat

There's no doubt that Morton Bagot is a very good place for chats as they pass through in spring and autumn. Overhead movement of Meadow Pipits continued, but the numbers were small, and there were also still quite a few Lesser Redpolls and Siskins around, plus a flock of at least 150 Goldfinches.

Lesser Redpolls

We found ourselves inadvertently dog-walking this morning as one of the hamlet's resident dogs adopted us and followed us on the full circuit. It proved quite good at flushing Pheasants but less useful at finding us anything rare.

It's behind you !

The flash field contained no surprises; the Little Owl, two Wigeon, 44 Teal, and a Green Sandpiper, while the only Snipe was flushed from the weedy field by a Sparrowhawk.  

Although the northerly breeze kept the temperature pegged to 14 degrees, the sunshine did encourage plenty of insects out including numerous Hornets and several species of butterfly. The most unexpected of these was a Brown Argus, notable due to the late date.

Brown Argus

The dog flushed a Green Woodpecker out of the ridge field, but was blissfully unaware of a Kingfisher which unexpectedly whizzed past us few minutes later. A number of "common" birds were seen for the first time in a while. Five Mistle Thrushes flew high over Clowse Farm, a Song Thrush was the first for ages signifying the end of their moulting season when they seem to become invisible, and a party of 40 Starlings was accompanying 16 Lapwings in the field beyond the flash field.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Finally, I can't resist putting in this male Great Spotted Woodpecker which was less wary than they usually are.

All quiet on the mothing front

 The temperature has plummeted in the last few days, and overnight was just five degrees. Only a fool would put their moth trap out in such conditions, unless of course he was doing the garden moth survey and was bound to the date.

In fact I was pleasantly surprised to find several moths and no wasps in the trap. The moths comprised only three species; 12 Lunar Underwings, two Large Yellow Underwings, and a Shuttle-shaped Dart.

There was also some by-catch. This means insects that are not moths. Keen entomologists would be getting their microscopes and killing jars out and identifying everything. I am not that kind of insect identifier. I prefer to glance at them and say "big orange caddisfly (looks vaguely familiar), large Cranefly (looks very familiar), Gnat (not interested)".

However a fly resting on the window did look unfamiliar, and my interest was piqued enough to photograph it (though not to measure it, to my cost).

Soldierfly (Sargus bipunctatus or S flavipes)

The Twitter community are great. Between them they know everything, and I got some responses suggesting it was a Soldierfly (possibly Sargus sp). This massive leg-up led me to check the relevant groups and realise they were quite right. Two common ones have yellow legs, S flavipes and S bipunctatus. One is twice the size of the other.

I should have measured it.

Wed Sept 23 - mostly Blithfield Reservoir

 It's been a while, just over 12 years in fact, since I last visited Blithfield Reservoir. As an autumn destination there were few places to rival it in the West Midlands, and for over 20 years I made regular trips up there. On my last visit, 2nd June 2008, I joined up with Graham M and we found a Turtle Dove. Today, Graham was still there, but there hasn't been another Turtle Dove since.

The weather this morning was vile, with heavy rain which would have forced me into the hides if they hadn't been closed as a Covid precaution. So I just got wet. On the other hand, virtually the first bird I saw as I reached Tad Bay was a Great White Egret. You didn't see many of them in 2008 (well I didn't).

Great White Egret

It was soon joined by a Little Egret, one of four I noticed around the reservoir. They were around in the early 2000s but they didn't fit my image of Blithfield.

Great White and Little Egrets

Tad Bay looked much as I remembered it except for one detail. Where were the thousands of ducks, and where were the waders ? I eventually located four Curlew and two Snipe before the rain intensified and I beat a retreat. It was quite good for Cormorants I suppose, I counted 82.

At Admaston I met up with Graham and we had a catch up. He confirmed what had become apparent, the wader numbers have fallen off a cliff in the last 20 years. He hadn't seen a Ruff here this year, a mind-boggling fact given how regular they used to be. He had seen a small party of Ringed Plovers and Dunlins which I somehow contrived to overlook in my enthusiasm to see a Grey Plover which had been present for a few days.

Grey Plover

As with most of the arctic waders, I have not seen very many in the UK since I started concentrating on Morton Bagot.

I walked down to the Blythe Bay as the weather rapidly improved, and it was certainly not birdless. At least 150 Meadow Pipits, over 50 Alba Wagtails, and a flock of 130 Linnets were flitting around the short turf and adjacent field, while the bay itself was plastered with geese. A count gave me 1016 Canada Geese, and 668 Greylag Geese. The latter have increased tenfold since the olden days, whoopee. A Blithfield tick swam into view; two Egyptian Geese. I dutifully rang Graham just in case they were rare here, but they weren't. A flock of 117 Wigeon went some way to improve the wildfowl count, as did at least 202 Tufted Ducks.

So I left with two site ticks and a feeling of sadness that the place I remembered had changed, and I would say for the worse. I had a similar experience at Draycote this winter, and I believe its a symptom of the havoc mankind is reeking on the planet.

Finally some local news. The ringers went to Morton Bagot on Monday evening and caught 13 Meadow Pipits and a Chiffchaff, while Lyn and I were wandering around Morgrove Coppice seeing a fly-over Yellowhammer, hearing a Green Sandpiper which was presumably on the pool I haven't found yet, and seeing numerous Siskins flying around.

Silver Y

We also had a good view of the migratory Silver Y moth to finish up.

Sunday September 20 - more birds in the bushes

 I was joined by Dave this morning, keen to tell me all about the birds he saw in Suffolk over the course of his recent holiday. He'd done well, and for a while this morning I thought he'd brought the birds back with him.

It was a bit cloudy at first and there was a moderate north-easterly blowing. We reached the end of the start of the access road at Netherstead just in time to witness the passage of a massive flock of tits. About a dozen Long-tailed Tits accompanied similar numbers of other tits, and at least nine Chiffchaffs and two Blackcaps. Suitably encouraged, we were at pains to log every warbler we could find across the site. We came up with figures of 17 Chiffchaffs and six Blackcaps. I felt sure we'd beaten the patch record count for Chiffchaffs, but it has turned out that we missed it by one bird.

Adding to the general feel of the day were small flocks of finches. Most were the usual Goldfinches, but we also noted a significant increase in Redpolls (20), and Siskins (18). These were flying around constantly, intermixed with Meadow Pipits (24). The birding felt good.

Inevitably things quietened down as the morning progressed, but we did find a solitary Whinchat in the pool field.

Whinchat, distant as ever.

The flash field contained the usual suspects; 38 Teal, three Wigeon, 22 Lapwings, at least one Green Sandpiper, and seven Snipe.

Snipe

Green Sandpiper

At least the waders were a little closer than they had been on my last visit. At one point a flock of hirundines appeared (we had seen none at all until then) and we estimated 14 House Martins and three Swallows before they were suddenly gone. Migration in action.

Add caption

Back at Netherstead we found a Small Red-eyed Damselfly on the pools and the usual hawkers and darters zipping about. Meanwhile the fence alongside us was found to contain four Stonechats. 

Three of the Stonechats

Attempts to get all four to pose nicely were unsuccessful. It was still a positive end to an enjoyable morning.

Wednesday Sept 16 - Some encouraging signs

 I've decided that the title of my last post was too downbeat. Despite a late start this morning there were a few reasons for optimism. To begin with the wind direction has shifted to a light easterly, although it remains warm and sunny.

A Grey Wagtail flew over Netherstead, and a Stonechat perched briefly on the hedge by the pond.

Stonechat

It is starting to feel that summer is truly behind us. I heard a single Swallow twittering, but couldn't pick it up against the blue sky. There were no Whinchats, and the only warblers were Blackcaps (five), and Chiffchaffs (four). There was also no large movement of Meadow Pipits, just a slow trickle.

However, the nearest flash produced waders. Two Green Sandpipers were the first for about a month, Snipe have increased to at least four, and there were at least 16 Lapwings. The recent dry spell has only dropped the water level by an inch or two and there is still no mud, but its clearly enough for these waders.

Green Sandpiper

The Wigeon was still present as were 37 Teal,  a Redpoll, and a Little Owl.

The rest of the visit was quiet, but was enlivened by only my second Grass Snake here. It was a better view than I had last time, but it still disappeared into the grass near the dragonfly pool before I could get my camera into play.

Sunday September 13 - Cup half empty

What can you say about September ? Its kind of exciting, but mostly frustrating. In many ways today was entirely typical. The weather was ... bleah. A light south-westerly (again), largely sunny, nice. Dull. 

Any County Bird Report, even in the West Midlands, will give plenty of grounds for optimism. Rare waders, storm-blown seabirds, even scarce passerines stopping briefly on migration. But the reality is almost always different. Almost always. Its the hope that keeps you going.

I'll give you three classic September birds. Meadow Pipit, Chiffchaff, and Blackcap. The former flies south each September and, as with today, the skies are filled with "tsip" calls as they bounce their way past. I logged 40 this morning, a typical count. Chiffchaffs are everywhere, but if you don't know their call you will barely be aware of them. "Hweet" sounds accompanied me all morning, and my estimate of eight is surely too low. Finally, Blackcaps. They too are far easier to hear than see, but the problem is that their call, a hard "tack" is not enough to identify them. You have to see them, and that can be tricky. I logged seven today not including several unseen tackers and some sub-song I suspected to be coming from a Blackcap.

I reached chat field and was immediately encouraged. At least three Whinchats and three Stonechats were present. I suspected there were more, but the picture was complicated by a small flock of distant Goldfinches which also chose to perch up as distant blobs.

Whinchat

I made my way to the flash field, by which time much of the early passerine activity had miraculously disappeared, even the chats vanished.  Sadly the flash field is unlikely to save the day when there is no mud. I counted 48 Teal, a Shoveler, and 14 Lapwing before concluding that not much else was present.

Lapwings and a few Teal

In fact there was another wader, but nothing to cause the heart to miss a beat. Tucked away in front of the reed mace was a sleeping Snipe.

Snipe

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was just about that. On the walk back I did find a pile of small birds going nuts around a particularly dense section of hedge. I'm sure there was an Owl in it, but nothing flew out, and I couldn't see the cause of the fuss.

A quick moth update: The trap went out in my garden on Friday night and the following morning revealed 46 moths of 13 species. The only one new for the year was a Lunar Underwing, a smart one. It was an entirely typical and common moth at this time of year.

Lunar Underwing

A lot of the other moths were somewhat worn and hard to identify, but my best efforts resulted in no reward.

And I was stung by a wasp.

 

Ringing update 10 Sep - Birds galore

 I've just received the ringing report for Thursday. I was unable to get down that day and suspected I would regret it.

Sure enough, they caught over a hundred birds, the Meadow Pipit trap plan being particularly successful. The highlight for me (had I been there) would have been the Garden Warbler. The only record this year being an unseen bird singing in June. I have only ever seen one Garden Warbler here in autumn.

Garden Warbler - per Tony Kelly

Ok they are not the most striking of birds, but they also don't occur here except on passage, and are barely annual. Envious? You betcha.

As for the figures, the total catch was as follows:

Blue Tit 31 (11), Great Tit 10 (3), Chiffchaff 9, Garden Warbler 1, Blackcap 6, Treecreeper 1, Wren 2, Robin 1 (1), Dunnock 3 (1), Meadow Pipit 33, Bullfinch 2, Greenfinch 1.

As always the retraps are shown in brackets.

Friday September 11 - birds, butterflies, and blackberries

 Richard B joined me on a cool cloudy breezy morning. We probably made a tactical error by skipping the chat field until we reached its far side. Scanning back we could see chats, and after some half-hearted back-tracking we totalled at least five distant Stonechats. Later in the day we met some walkers who had seen a Whinchat and maybe six Stonechats.

We got to the flash field where we counted 48 Teal, a Shoveler, 27 Lapwings, and about 25 Mallard. Richard only joins me occasionally so I'm always hoping to find him something memorable. A Sparrowhawk didn't really cut the mustard, but once we were closer to the nearest flash a rush of wings and generally panic brought the moment we needed. The whoosh was created by about four turbo-charged Teal and the panic was caused by the juvenile Peregrine hard on their tail. It then treated us to several passes while Richard tried to get a decent view, and I tried to get any kind of shot.

Peregrine

My one success was at least in focus, and the bird was certainly shifting. Later in the morning I saw it or another very distantly as it flew to the pylons.

By late morning the air was becoming warm enough for butterflies to fly. We saw a few Green-veined Whites, a Speckled Wood, a Small Heath, a Red Admiral, a Painted Lady, and a Comma.

Comma

Other birds seen included a constant trickle of Meadow Pipits, a Swallow, and a House Martin heading south. One or two Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs called from the hedgerows, and we also heard two Kingfishers without setting eyes on either of them.

Richard is a keen forager, and we soon got our tubs out and filled them with blackberries.

So nothing scarce, but its nice to be blogging again.

Technical issues resolved

I'm having a problem updating this account so the blog is suspended for a while.

Panic over. I think I've sorted it. Phew. 

The blog is now up and running again.

Tuesday September 8

 After a rather warm night the day dawned grey and mild with a light westerly. The feeling that I should have been trapping moths was reinforced when I reached Morton Bagot. Insects were everywhere, particularly gnats. 

The birds were thrilled. Every other treetop and hedge was crowned by crazily flying gnats, and warblers, tits, and House Sparrows were making sorties to pick them off. I counted five Blackcaps, 11 Chiffchaffs, and both Lesser and Common Whitethroats enjoying the feast. 

Ivy flowered in the hedgerows and the hum and buzz of bees and flies was almost deafening. I made slow progress due to the abundance of passerines feeding or zipping from bush to bush. As on Saturday I noted a flock of Siskins, maybe a dozen or so, but this time I added a single Lesser Redpoll as it flew over. Actually the only other species which was different from those recorded on Saturday was a calling Marsh Tit at Stapenhill Wood.

A Grey Wagtail flew over Netherstead before I headed towards the pool field. Here I found three Stonechats and two Whinchats. At the flash field I noted that the female Pintail was still present, but while I was making my way along the footpath something disturbed all the ducks causing them the fly around. Three Shovelers flew off, revealing their spatulate bills to good effect.

Shovelers

When I got to the viewing area beneath the trees I could find no trace of the Pintail. At least an eclipse drake Wigeon was showing much better than on Saturday.

Wigeon

Two Lesser Black-backed Gulls were standing with 23 Lapwings, making a nonsense of my struggle to see any gulls on Saturday. My one regret came at the Kingfisher Pool when, having decided that none were present I blundered up to the pool flushing a Kingfisher which had been sitting quietly just ten metres away.

As compensation I scanned the algae coating the pool and found my first Small Red-eyed Damselfly of the year. I had concluded that the local population had disappeared having not seen any during August.

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

I walked back past the docks and nettles which support hundreds of crickets, mainly Dark Bush-crickets and a few Roesel's Bush-crickets. One of my favourite butterflies, a Small Copper, posed perfectly.

Small Copper

I reached the dragonfly pools and spotted a dragonfly recorder counting dragonflies. Determined to meet him I strode over and let him know about the Small Red-eye. He introduced himself as Alan, and told me he had seen several on the pool. After I was was diverted by another species of cricket, a Long-winged Conehead among the grass stems, I rejoined him to continue our conversation.

Long-winged Conehead

Alan pointed out a fine male Common Emerald Damselfly and the numerous coupled  Common Darters.

Common Emerald Damselfly

I plan to be back with Richard B on Friday, our first visit since Covid.

Ringing update - Sun 6 Sept and Mon 7 Sep

 Tony Kelly has kindly shared the details of the Group's ringing activity from Sunday and Monday. They were trialling a new walk-in net for capturing Meadow Pipits with some success.

Inevitably they recorded some birds I didn't see on Saturday, catching a Grasshopper Warbler and seeing a Red Kite.

Grasshopper Warbler - per Tony Kelly

The full catch on Sunday was:

Blue Tit 7 (inc 2 re-traps), Great Tit 1, Chiffchaff 1, Grasshopper Warbler 1, Lesser Whitethroat 1, Whitethroat 1, Wren 1, Meadow Pipit 5, Goldfinch 1, Reed Bunting 1

Lesser Whitethroat - per Tony Kelly

Meadow Pipit - per Tony Kelly

On Monday they caught six Meadow Pipits in the new trap, plus others using a triangle of nets. The total count was as follows:

Blue Tit 10 (inc 2 re-traps), Great Tit 3, Chiffchaff 3, Meadow Pipit 13, Reed Bunting 1.

Interestingly they also had three Grey Wagtails, a relatively scarce species on the patch, bounce out of the nets.

5 September - WestMidsAllDayer

 So here we are again, another all day endurance test to enjoy. Having missed out on the Spring one due to Covid restrictions it seemed as though more teams than ever were taking part. My team was mostly just me, although Mike Inskip joined me for an hour in the late afternoon. I forgot to tip the ringers off again, and they seem to have chosen Sunday to visit.

Like last year I was on the patch a little too late to record a Tawny Owl, but my pre-breakfast stroll still started at 06.00 when it was just starting to get light. By 08.00 I had recorded 40 Species including Mistle Thrush, Grey Wagtail, Green Woodpecker, Sedge Warbler, Snipe, Little Owl, and Coal Tit none of which I was to see or hear for the rest of the day.

Sedge Warbler

Neither Sedge Warbler nor Mistle Thrush have been seen here for several weeks, while the high water-level in the flashes had led me to write off any chance of waders other than Lapwing. I also saw a Kingfisher, and 15 Siskins. I heard the latter's calls all day, and they seem to have joined the Goldfinches to feed on thistle heads. The early sun revealed several Blackcaps, Lesser Whitethroats, and Whitethroats as well as the Sedge Warbler.

I was back just after 09.15, and set off for a proper look at the flash field. Here there had been an influx of dabbling ducks, and the usual Mallard and Moorhens had been joined by a Pintail (first this year and only the fifth record for the site), two Wigeon, and two Shovelers, while the Teal numbers had swelled to 67. Who needs waders? 

Pintail

The first Wigeon since the winter

I also located some Whinchats in the pool field. Initially I thought there were two individuals, but my late afternoon visit revealed there were actually five, just one short of the site record.

Whinchat

One other valuable record was added at the flash field. I could see some Greylag Geese looking skyward and thought they could be eying a raptor. They weren't (it was just some Mallards flying in) but I did spot a Swift as I scanned about. I am sure this will be my last here this year, a species I was not expecting to see today.

The rest of the morning became a bit of a slog as I hauled myself down to the south end via the old Curlew Field, all for a Meadow Pipit, and three Linnets. However, things improved as I reached Netherstead at 13.20 when I saw a Cormorant over Bannams Wood, and then flushed my only Greenfinch of the day. So that was 58 species by lunchtime.

I was back again at 14.30 and after a fruitless time around the church I parked by High Field farm and walked back along the road under Bannams Wood hoping for the woodland species I was still missing. Woodlands in September are dreadful places to birdwatch, especially in the afternoon. After 20 minutes of near silence I picked up a faint tapping noise. It was, as I suspected, a Nuthatch, bird number 59. My plan had been to walk through the village in the hope of seeing a Collared Dove, but just then Mike Inskip pulled up after spending a few hours on his own patch (Middle Spernal) where he had seen a Stonechat. I told him what I had seen, and he glanced at his watch. He was due back at 16.30 but could just have time to try to see the Pintail and Whinchats. I decided to join him.

As we strode down from the church another of my missing species piped up from a hedgerow tree, a Treecreeper. We reached the flash pools and the Pintail was still present. Next was the pool field where we saw the Whinchats and then had the bonus of a male Stonechat.

Stonechat

The walk back was rather rapid, as Mike was now late, but as we reached the road a pair of Collared Doves flew in and perched on wires. This species is definitely declining here, perhaps due to agriculture being replaced by trees.

I drove back to Netherstead but my last two hours added only a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls as my final species. My total for the day was 63 species, one fewer than last year, but not bad.

I could list all the birds recorded today, but its easier to list the ones I didn't see. Song Thrush (difficult in September as they are moulting), Chaffinch (also moulting and much declined as a breeding species here in the last few years), Marsh Tit (should have seen one somewhere), Peregrine (not on the pylons today), Sparrowhawk (I saw one from our living room but that doesn't count), Starling (scarce here until the winter), Black-headed Gull (where were they?), Green Sandpiper (water-level too high).

You never see everything.

PS: I found a tiny moth on our kitchen window when I got home. It is some kind of Mompha and may be Mompha divisella which is quite a scarce species.

Mompha bradleyi

Actually, its probably just a pale example of Mompha propinquella. Further research will be required to clinch it.

Update: The recorder, Nigel S, has identified the moth as Mompha bradleyi and stated it was the first for the 10km square. Interestingly the species was only detected in the UK in the 1990s after a number of specimens of M divisella were reexamined. I'm not sure what its current status is in the UK, but it seems my record is a very useful one, and given its close similarity to divisella I'm pleased to have got quite close to the right species in my own research.

More moth stuff

 Following last week's Moth Night(s) I have been checking the jam I smeared on our apple tree every night. I strongly suspect that the big moth from last Saturday night was a Clifden Nonpareil, but having only seen its underside I couldn't be sure and was hoping for a second coming.

On Thursday night I did find a big moth, but it was an Old Lady. New for the year and only my second in the garden but a bit disappointing. 

Last night the trap went out, and I caught another one. This moth looked much tattier than the one on the tree the night before, so either its a hard life being an Old Lady, or its a different one.

Old Lady - nice and fresh

Old lady - worn and tatty

The rest of the catch was a little bit dull if I'm honest. The only species new for the year was Centre-barred Sallow, and there were six of them. They seem to be a common autumn moth here.

Centre-barred Sallow

The actual numbers were quite good, a reflection of a relatively mild night. The full list of the 65 moths caught is as follows:

Common Plume 1, Light Brown Apple Moth 3, Celypha lacunana 1, Agriphila geniculea 5, Common Marbled Carpet 1, Brimstone Moth 1, Willow Beauty 1, Dusky Thorn 5, Vine's Rustic 2, Pale Mottled Willow 1, Copper Underwing 2, Old Lady 1, Flounced Rustic 5, Centre-barred Sallow 6 (nfy), Large Yellow Underwing 21, Square-spot Rustic 9.

Wasps continue to be a problem. I got up very early (05.30) in the hope of beating them to the trap, but I was too late and several ended up in the utility room. I did however see a Fox as I peered out first thing.

Twitching the Red-backed Shrike - 03 Sept 2020

 I could stand it no longer. This morning I headed for Sutton Park to see the Red-backed Shrike. 

It had all the hallmarks of a typical twitch. First navigate your way through unfamiliar territory to the site and follow the instructions from whichever Rare Bird site you follow. On arrival you will be greeted by a dog-walker who tells you he spoke to a birder and "things had gone quiet". After you have digested this puzzling information an actual birder will appear, in this case Nick Barlow, and reassure you that all will be well. The bird is over yonder and you will see it.

At this point, with Nick leaving, another familiar face turned up. I hadn't seen Steve Cawthray for decades, and he was very happy to accompany me to the Shrike and then give me a tour of the best places to see other migrants.

A small group of birders, some also familiar from my misspent youth, were watching the Shrike. What a fabulous bird.

If ever a bird was designed for birders to marvel at it is the Red-backed Shrike. Not only do they perched prominently and look wonderful, they can also put on a show. The above video demonstrates what happens when an unsuspecting bumblebee meets a Red-backed Shrike for the first and last time.

Adult male Red-backed Shrike

In the last four decades I've seen 28 Red-backed Shrikes in the UK, but they've almost all been juveniles. I have to think back to the early 1980s when the last pair bred at Santon Downham in Suffolk to find my previous adult male. 

The gorse bush next to the birch favoured by the Shrike briefly supported a Wheatear.

Soon Steve was guiding me towards the Crabs. This turned out to be series of Crab Apple trees where he was sure we would see Redstarts. Did we ever! Without even trying particularly hard we recorded at least 10 Redstarts in about half an hour. Apparently they don't even breed in Sutton Park, they were all migrants.

Redstart

The views were excellent, not like the distant views I generally manage at Morton Bagot. The majority seemed to be males too.

We then headed for the Lower Crabs, where Pete Forbes had seen some Spotted Flycatchers. Soon enough we found them, Steve thought about five. Once again, very photogenic.

Spotted Flycatcher

Finally, a word about Sutton Park. It's an amazing oasis of heather, birch and conifers on the edge of the Birmingham conurbation. I was starting to get a serious attack of patch envy. Admittedly dog-walkers were everywhere, but its so massive that it doesn't matter.

If I lived on the north side of Birmingham I would be there all the time. But as it is, I'll be doing my best at third division Morton Bagot in the autumn all-dayer on Saturday, and that'll be great too.